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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

After Violence, Candidate Plays On Voters’ Fears Since Explosions, ‘Terrorist’ Has Become Synonymous With Muslim Extremists

Donna Bryson Associated Press

A week after 13 bomb blasts rocked this southern mill town, a candidate for a Hindu-nationalist party played to voters’ fears, promising them he would be tough on terrorism.

As his truck cruised through a Hindu neighborhood Saturday, C.P. Radhakrishnan of the front-running Bharatiya Janata Party shouted, “If elected, I will crack down on terrorists.”

That their hometown would see the worst violence during the campaign for parliament has baffled many in Coimbatore, 1,500 miles south of New Delhi. The attacks killed 54 people and sparked religious riots.

Hindu-Muslim clashes are rare anywhere in southern India, where Muslims generally make up a smaller part of the population than in the north. Some Coimbatore residents say religious differences meant little before politicians began meddling.

Radhakrishnan did not refer directly to Muslims while campaigning Saturday. But since the explosions, the word “terrorists” has become synonymous with Muslim extremists.

Police investigating the bombings have arrested and questioned hundreds of people linked to Muslim fundamentalists groups. But it is still unknown who was behind the attacks that killed both Hindus and Muslims.

Voting in Coimbatore, scheduled for Sunday, was postponed to Feb. 28 after the bombings.

Abdul Khaled Muthvalli, a Muslim priest, said Coimbatore’s troubles began when the BJP held its first organizational meeting here in 1985.

“From that time on, they twisted Hindus against Muslims,” said Muthvalli, who is working to provide food and housing to Muslims whose businesses were destroyed in post-bombing rioting.

Many Muslims acknowledge extremists among them may have been behind the blasts, but they also say the attacks could just as likely be the work of Hindu fundamentalists trying to start trouble.

V. Padmanabhan, a Hindu and president of the town’s chamber of commerce, says extremists on both sides are blinded to reality by fear. He said Muslims believe they must fight the BJP because it would make them second-class citizens if it gained power, though he insists the party would treat all Indians equally.

As for Hindus, Padmanabhan said, they should realize that “a small minority of Muslims cannot wipe them away. That’s baseless. But the fear of the minority is real.”

Coimbatore could suffer if the violence continues and investors begin to look for a safer place for their money.

For now, the town is booming. Surrounding fields provide cotton for factories spinning out everything from thread to finished shirts, much of it exported. Unemployment is low, and jobs have put enough money in people’s pockets to support businesses selling American ice cream and cars, goods usually available only in much bigger Indian cities.

With such prosperity, voters might be expected to be quite happy with the political status quo. Instead, the leftist Dravida Munnetra Kazhagan party that has governed Tamil Nadu state for decades is increasingly seen as corrupt and no longer relevant.